Clinicopathological study of maxillary sinus carcinoma.

Autopsy was performed on 67 patients who had squamous cell carcinoma of the maxillary sinus. These patients had undergone radiotherapy and died during a 30 year period, which ended for this study in 1982. The clinicopathological picture showed several differences according to changes of the mode of therapy and to the rise in local control rate. Postmortem examinations have shown a decreased death rate from extensive carcinoma, and increased distant metastases after the introduction of megavoltage irradiation and trimodal combination therapy (radiotherapy + surgery + intraarterial infusion of antimetabolites). In addition, the introduction of aggressive chemotherapy with antimetabolites and antibiotics has given rise to several gastrointestinal complications.